Four Rangers among Silver Slugger finalists

The finalists for the Silver Slugger Awards have been announced, and the Texas Rangers have four players who are finalists.

Nathaniel Lowe is one of four finalists at first base. Lowe is up against Vlad Guerrero, Jr., Jose Abreu, and Anthony Rizzo. Lowe slashed .302/.358/.492 this year, and his 143 wRC+ was tops among first basemen.

Marcus Semien is one of four finalists at second base, going up against Jose Altuve, D.J. LeMahieu and Andres Gimenez. Semien had a .248/.304/.429 slash line, and his 107 wRC+ trails the other finalists, particularly Altuve, who slashed .300/.387/.533, and would seem to be the heavy favorite.

At shortstop, Corey Seager is one of the four finalists, with Bo Bichette, Xander Bogaerts and Carlos Correa also being named. Seager slashed .245/.317/.455, and his 117 wRC+ is the lowest of the four, although interestingly, his xwOBA is the highest of any A.L. shortstop, so maybe we’ll see a huge year in 2023 with the shift being banned.

Finally, Adolis Garcia is one of ten finalists among outfielders, as well as, weirdly enough, being a finalist at DH. Garcia only had 21 games at DH, but apparently that was enough to make him a Silver Slugger finalist there. Garcia posted a 112 wRC+, and a .250/.300/.456 slash line.